Ruby Slippers
by AZNRiceCanon
Summary: This is a fanfiction series based on the popular webseries Red vs Blue. The main concept is the alternate ending in season 5 that bears its namesake. This is my very first fanfiction, so be gentle.
1. Chapter 1

There exists a tragic tale of a lost maiden, cast out from her homeland and into the wilderness. From royalty to poverty, her story is as uplifting as it is tragic.

This is not her story.

At all.

RUBY SLIPPERS

Chapter 1

"How long you think till he figures out there's no store?" asked the maroon one.

"I'd say… at least a week," replied the orange one.

"Why, because that's how long it took you to figure it out?"

"Hey that wasn't funny, I almost died from dehydration!"

"Yet you had no problem sending the rookie on the exact same mission," Simmons pointed out. Grif thought about this for a moment, but decided he didn't care.

"Meh, he'll be okay."

"Probably. And if not, it's not like we knew him long enough to feel bad," he said cheerfully.

"Ha, good point," said Grif. "Wait a minute, is that what you and Sarge said when I first showed up?"

"Kind of."

"What the fuck does _kind of_ mean?"

"Well it was _kind of_ like Sarge was hoping you'd get lost. Something along those lines. I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"How reassuring," said Grif flatly. In the distance, they could see Donut walking around one of the massive boulders that were littered about the canyon. Then he walked around it again. And again.

"Do you think we were too hard on him?" asked Simmons, turning back to Grif.

"Meh, he'll probably just wander around the cliffs for a few hours and head back. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Well either way, we'd better get started on the equipment maintenance," said Simmons, as he began walking down the ramp. "Sarge is going to be pissed if he gets back and we haven't cleaned out all the rifles yet."

"Now that I think about it, I'm a bit worried about the rookie," Grif said hastily. "Equipment maintenance is important, but so is the safety of our new recruits."

"Sure, I can tell you're _real_ concerned," Simmons replied with as much sarcasm as he could muster.

"I _am_, Simmons," he replied. "Since you're better than me at cleaning, I'll stay here and watch on Donut, make sure he's okay. Hey this is serious; it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt."

Simmons let out a long sigh of disgust. "You know, sometimes I wish we didn't wear helmets here. I'd pay good money to see you _try_ to say shit like that with a straight face. Whatever. _I'll_ clean the damn rifles. I'm sure you'd just fuck it up anyways," he concluded as he walked into the base.

Alone, Grif checked on Donut through the sniper rifle. Just as he thought, he was still wandering about the cliffs. _Finally,_ thought Grif, _I can get a decent nap going today._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Quite awake now, Grif jumped up in a panic, and frantically searched his body for fresh bullet holes. Once he realized he wasn't dying, he ran to the bottom of the ramp.

"SIMMONS!" he screamed. As soon as the word left him, he heard a loud crash coming from the back of the base. Simmons was yelling something, but Grif could barely hear him over a series of loud metallic clangs. Several moments later, he showed up at the entrance to Red Base.

"What the fuck is the matter with you?" Simmons demanded. "Didn't I tell you what I was doing?"

"Simmons, I think we're under attack! Didn't you hear the gunshots?"

"Oh I'm sorry, all I could hear was the sound of a rack of loaded assault rifles slamming onto the floor, all around me. See there was this_ fucking idiot_ screaming at the top of his lungs while I was field stripping an MA5."

"Gun. Shots. You do understand the significance of hearing gunfire in a time of war, right?"

"Hey, it's me! Don't shoot! I'm the guy that bought the flag, remember?" Donut screamed frantically. He waved it towards the store, hoping they saw it before they reloaded. _What the hell is wrong with this canyon?_ He wondered. _I thought we were fighting aliens, and why is everyone here so freakin rude?_ Since they weren't shooting anymore, he figured now was a good time to get away from here, and back to base. Unfortunately, he had no idea where he nor the base was. So he decided the direction opposite of the gunfire was the best direction to start running.

"I'm telling you it was four shots, like 'bam, bam, bam,'" said Grif. Now that he had Simmons calm, he was scouring over the canyon with the sniper rifle.

"Wait a second, that's only 3 bams,"

"…bam," Grif finished. "Wait a minute, we've got a blue guy on the move out there," He could barely make it out, but there was definitely someone in blue armor running towards the cliffs.

"Where's he headed?"

"Oh crap, its Donut… and he's got something… it looks like…" _the flag!_ he thought excitedly. "Simmons, get the warthog," he said coldly.

"You mean the puma?" Simmons said with a chuckle.

"Keep making jokes, that'll win the war," Grif replied as they ran down the ramps to the jeep.

"What the hell do you care? All you ever do is sleep and eat up all the snacks," he shot back.

"Because we can wipe out their whole team right now! I don't know about you Simmons, but I want to get the fuck out of this canyon," he stated as he turned the ignition. "You don't think it's depressing that there _is_ no goddamn store? And how do I turn the fucking radio off?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Freeze!" came a voice from behind. Donut stopped and slowly turned around, and was greeted with the business end of a rifle.

"Hey! Why the hell were you shooting at me? You could have hit me, dick!" yelled Donut. _It was the asshole from the store,_ he remembered. _Did he seriously just sprint across the canyon to yell at me again?_

"Can it! Don't try to play stupid with me, Sarge. I know who you are, we've been spying on you for 3 weeks now."

"I just got here _two hours_ ago, and I'm not a sergeant, I'm a private," Donut responded defiantly.

"Wait a minute you're not the sergeant!"

"Yeah, that's what I _just_ said."

"Well then how the hell did you manage to steal our flag?" he asked, obviously confused.

"Steal? I have no idea what the hell you're talking about…"

"THREE!" shouted a previously unheard voice. At that moment two people appeared seemingly out of nowhere, covered with some kind of black stuff. This was getting to be a bit more than the rookie could handle on his first day.

"Oh shit, Donut's surrounded," said Grif, pushing the gas pedal to the floorboard.

"How many are there?" asked Simmons from the gunner position.

"Three, and it looks like one of them has an assault rifle," he replied. This did not look good. "Once we clear this hill, cover me. I'm gonna try to get Donut out of there."

"That just means shoot everything that isn't you or the rookie, right?" Simmons asked excitedly. He had been dying to fire the turret ever since they got it.

"Yeah, here we go!" The jeep hit the last bump and flew through the air right into the fray. Simmons had the mounted turret spun up before the jeep skid to a halt.

"Rookie! What happened?" asked Grif as he jumped out of the warthog.

"You know what? I honestly have _no idea_ what's going on. I think everyone in this canyon is absolutely insane," said Donut. He was shaken up pretty badly; no amount of training can prepare you for a firefight on you first day of assignment.

"How did you get their flag?"

"I don't know, II just asked for it,"

"Wait, that worked?" asked Grif incredulously.

"I guess, is it not supposed to?"

"We never thought to try that," said Grif. "Either way, just get the flag back to our base, I'll explain everything there,"

I'm not going anywhere until someone tells me what's going…"

"There's no time to explain Rookie!" Grif interrupted, "Just get the flag back to base, I promise I'll explain everything there,"

"Fine!" said Donut in defeat. He picked the flag back up and started running.

"Back to _our _base dumbass!" yelled Grif.

"I knew that, I just gotta turn around, that's all," Donut mumbled as he corrected himself.

After making sure the rookie was heading in the right direction, Grif turned back to Simmons. At first he thought he was firing at random boulders up in the cliffs, until he heard screaming coming from them. _Good, they're pinned down,_ he thought in relief. _Things are going a hell of a lot more smoothly than I thought they would. _Then he realized that the Blues were near a trail they could escape by. _Then _he realized that the entire time he talked to Simmons and had a complete train of thought, Simmons hadn't let off the trigger for even a moment, and they were probably low on ammo.

"Simmons!"

…no response.

"SIMMONS!" Grif yelled at the top of his lungs. Reluctantly, Simmons climbed down from the warthog. "Man, that thing is loud," commented Grif.

"What?" asked/screamed Simmons.

"Come on, let's sneak around behind them," said Grif. The last thing he wanted was them getting away. As much as he hated actually doing things, he hated being stationed in a boxed canyon even more.

"Okay!" yelled Simmons.

"Pipe down!" Grif hissed. "We can't let them know we're coming,"

Donut couldn't believe the day he was having. Within 3 hours of being on post he had been yelled at, accused of stealing, shot at, and to top it off, he was completely lost again.

"How the hell are you supposed to navigate a canyon filled with nothing but rocks and dirt?" he thought out loud. "I need to get to higher ground to figure out where I am." Luckily, there was a trail nearby leading into the cliffs. _Finally, _he thought, _now I can see where I'm going. _

Once up top, he searched for a landmark amidst the barren plains. Strangely, below the cliffs to his left he saw Grif running towards the jeep, which was abandoned. Then the jeep exploded.

"Son of a bitch!" he screamed.


End file.
